Because of their versatility and broad application, additive manufacturing processes have been gaining in popularity. In some aspects, additive manufacturing processes feature the formation of workpieces that include a build material and a sacrificial material; the sacrificial material is removed after manufacture so as to leave behind a detailed part made of the build material that includes supports or other cavities where the sacrificial material existed before removal.
Fused deposition modeling and fused filament fabrication are additive manufacturing technologies that use thermoplastic filaments or even metal wires to build parts layer by layer. The material from a spool is fed by an extrusion nozzle that is heated to melt the material which is then deposited by a controlled mechanism in horizontal and vertical directions. The machine deposits a build material and a support material, the support material being removed after the part is built. The support material is a sacrificial material that can be characterized as being a “breakaway” or “soluble” material.
Such additive manufacturing processes, however, have not yet achieved the ability to form workpieces that include a build material that has a high tolerance for heat while at the same time also including a sacrificial material that may be efficiently removed from the build material. As one example, support materials for polyetherimide (PEI) are so-called breakaway support materials that are based on polyarylethersulfone (227° C. Tg) or polysulfone (190° C. Tg).
It is difficult, however, to remove these support materials from model/build materials, and removal may require mechanical removal or agitation, often with significant hand labor. For some geometries, it may be difficult or even impossible to completely remove the support materials.
These and other shortcomings are addressed by aspects of the present disclosure.